1. Technical Field
This invention relates to hair styling devices and, more particularly, to a hair styling device for assisting a user to separate clumps of hair for creating braids.
2. Prior Art
Hair braiding is one of the oldest forms of enhancing a person's physical appearance. More than simply pulling the hair back to reveal the attractive features of the face; braiding adds a decorative pattern that adds to the individual's natural beauty. Usually, hair is manually braided by a person other than the one who wants to obtain the hair style of dreadlocks. This braiding work takes extremely long time and costs too much. Also, the quality of such manually-braided hair style depends on the worker's skill totally, so that it may not be uniform. Several persons, especially among the African American population, prefer having a plurality of smaller braids that effectively cover the entirety of their head.
Some persons actually grow their hair to a sufficient length to have a professional hair stylist braid the strands into such smaller braids across their entire head. This is a rather time consuming process since the person must first grow their hair to a sufficient length, and subsequently spends a lot time having their hair braided. Due to this, it has become common practice to purchase pre-braided wigs or strands of hair that can be worn over or attached to existing strands of hair, respectively.
Today, there are a number of known braiding machines. One prior art example shows a hand-operated hair braiding machine wherein three passages through which hair is drawn are alternately rotated to braid the hair. Each of the passages is disposed in an elliptical gear. The combination of a pinion gear member with its axle disposed in a slot, and a toggling pawl, combine to effect the braiding motion of the elliptical gears. Unfortunately, such a braiding machine is limited to forming one braid at a time, thus still requiring a significant amount of time to form enough braids for covering the entirety of one's scalp.
Accordingly, a need remains for a hairstyling device in order to overcome the above-noted shortcomings. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing a device that is convenient and easy to use, provides considerable time-, cost- and space-savings, is durable in design, and is versatile in it uses. Such a device automatically measures and separates bunches of synthetic hair for individual braids in various styles. With the hairstyling device, hairdressers are more efficient and can thus conveniently earn more money. Such a device also allows a stylist to use the entirety of a package of synthetic hair, which conveniently prevents unnecessary wastage, saving the salon owner considerable supply costs.